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Pochettino congratulates Chelsea despite Spurs’ ‘dominance’

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino believes his side dominated the game as they lost to Chelsea 4-2 in the FA Cup semi finals.

Nemanja Matic’s thunderbolt sent Chelsea into the FA Cup final in style, condemning Tottenham to yet more Wembley woe and giving Mauricio Pochettino’s men a bloody nose ahead of the title run-in.

England’s best sides took a break from their increasingly exciting duel for the Premier League crown, instead renewing hostilities in a Wembley battle that lived up to the hype.

Tottenham twice clawed their way back in this thrilling semi-final, only for Antonio Conte’s table toppers to run out 4-2 victors as Matic’s remarkable drive complemented game-changing substitute Eden Hazard’s strike.

“Congratulations to Chelsea. We dominated the game, but they were more clinical than us,” Pochettino told BBC Sport. “I feel proud, we were fantastic in the way we played and in our philosophy. They had five shots and scored four goals and we score only two.

“It is important to speak about the moments of the game. We fought a lot. We tried and scored. The penalty for me was a soft penalty or was not a penalty. To go into the changing room 2-1 down was difficult and again we played well in the second half and scored, but then they came back.”

Pochettino’s men travel to Crystal Palace on Wednesday with their title dream still alive, trailing Chelsea by four points with six games remaining.

“Only now we can look forward. We are four points behind them and we will try to win our next game,” added the Spurs boss. “I am not worried. The team is strong, we are focused. We were competing with one of the best teams in Europe. Did we deserve more? Sure, but that is football.

“Now we will try to be calm, watch the game again and try to improve. We are in a process of trying to improve, if we cannot win the FA Cup this season we will try again next season.

“We have another difficult game coming up against Crystal Palace. It is a tough league to play, but we are okay. For sure now we are disappointed but that is football.”